The present invention relates to a tube squeezer which is used for squeezing out a material contained in a tube including tooth paste, cosmetic products of various kinds, chemical products and the like.
Conventionally, it is known that there is a tube squeezer for squeezing out the material contained in a tube.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,812 discloses a type of tube squeezer which squeezes out the contents by the following manner. First, the lower end portion of the tube is inserted into a slit of a rotation shaft contained within a housing. The lower end portion of the tube is mounted on the rotation shaft within the housing so that it curls as a key provided on one side of the rotation shaft is rotated.
However, with the above-described structure, not only is the size of the squeezer large, taking up a lot of space, but the tube being rolled up may be released if the key is released. In order to avoid this, the user must hold the key so that the shaft will not rotate in reverse. Otherwise, the user would be required to roll up the tube each time the tube is used.
The present invention has been proposed in consideration of the above-described drawback of the conventional technique.Its main objective is to provide a tube squeezer having a simple and small-sized structure, which can squeeze out the content material out of a tube effectively, while surely maintaining the squeezed state of the tube.
In order to achieve the above-described objective, the present invention comprises: a tube squeezer comprising a tube having a closed one end along a length direction, and another end from which a material contained therein can be discharged; a frame mounted integrally on one end of the tube along a width direction for holding the one end of the tube; and a handle having a main body mounted on the frame and an arm extending from the main body,
wherein the main body projects from the tube in the width direction, so that a user can hold the main body when rolling up the tube by the frame, and the arm extends from the main body such that the tip end portion thereof overlaps with a part of the tube, thus the tip end portion can be engaged with the surface of the tube when the tube is rolled up, thereby making it possible to prevent the reversed rotation of the rolled tube.
With the above-described structure, the squeezer can be made as an integral unit with a tube, thereby reducing the overall size. Furthermore, if the tip end portion of the arm unit is hooked on the tube after the tube is rolled up, the reversed rolling-up effect of the tube can be prevented. It should be noted that the frame may be prepared as a separate part from the tube or they may be one integral unit.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the main body of the handle is mounted on the frame in a direction in which an overlap section between the arm and the tube increases. Here, it is preferable that the arm of the handle should be formed such that its tip end portion abuts vertically onto the surface of the tube when the handle is rotated.
With the above-described structure, as the tip end portion of the arm is rotated, the tube can be pinched between the tip end portion and the frame to be held.
According to another embodiment of the present invention structure, there are two arms provided for the handle, and these arms extend from the respective positions to be symmetrical with respect to the frame of the main body. With this structure, when the handle is rotated so as to allow the tip end portion of one of the arms to abut the surface of the tube, the end of the other arm moves outward from the edge of the tube. Here, it is preferable that the handle should be set in such a state that the tip end portion of one arm overlaps with a part of the tube while the handle is situated in a neutral position.
With the above-described structure, the two arms are formed to be line-symmetrical with respect to the frame while interposing the frame between them. Therefore, the rolling-up of the tube and the engagement between the tube and the tip end portion of the arm can be done similarly with either one of the arms. Further, when the tube is rolled up, one of the two arms is rotated to such a position that its tip end portions abuts the surface of the tube. In this manner, the other arm does not interfere with the tube, and therefore the rolling up operation can be further facilitated.
Additional objectives and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.